Boeing Selected To Build Space Plane

posted by Brad Ford -

May 25, 2017

Boeing has been selected by DARPA to complete final designs for the Experimental Spaceplane XS-1. It's a reusable unmanned vehicle that would take off like a rocket and fly to supersonic speeds to the edge of space. A booster rocket would then deploy to send a payload of up to 3,000 pounds into orbit. The reusable first stage then returns to Earth and lands. It could be recycled for use in a few days.